ATM Hack Uses USB Drives To Steal Money

We have all seen the warnings on ATMs in which banks advise their customers to avoid using the machine if it looks like it might have been tampered with. After all with 3D printers creating ATM skimmers with relative ease, anyone not aware could be easily fooled and could lose their life savings in one fell swoop. Now it seems that instead of relying on ATM skimmers, hackers have managed to use USB drives in order to steal from unknowing customers. This is done by thieves cutting a hole into ATMs that allows them to plug in a USB drive that then installs code into the ATMs which then allows them to steal from it.

This was discovered when a lender discovered its ATMs were being emptied out despite the use of safes to help protect the cash inside. The findings of this hack was presented at the Chaos Computing Congress, although its presenters asked not to have their names published. As it stands this hack appears to be limited to European banks but there’s no telling if the hack has managed to make its way stateside or to other banks around the world. Interestingly enough the researchers have indicated that there might no be honor among thieves because in order to release the money, separate codes had to be used, discouraging thieves from the gang to go solo or rip one another off.